From NorthWest Florida Daily News:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – It would not be a good idea to pull out of Iraq any time soon, says Henry Kissinger, who shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his part in negotiating an end to the U.S. military presence in Vietnam.

“We need some presence there as a negotiating base,” the former secretary of state said Tuesday at a fundraising gala for the National World War II Museum. “I’m against unilateral withdrawal from Iraq because in Iraq, the war won’t stop at the borders. We need a combination of military and political methods.”

Kissinger, 84, said it might be possible to reduce the number of Americans serving in Iraq, but said he would not second-guess the current troop strength.

Kissinger was honorary chairman of the Victory Ball, a $500 (€370)-per-person gala to raise money for a $300 million (€222 million) expansion.

Kissinger was President Richard Nixon’s national-security adviser from 1969 until 1975. He became secretary of state in September 1973 and continued in that position through the rest of Nixon’s administration as well as that of President Gerald Ford.

The fight against radical Islam is necessary, he said. “If we do not conduct that fight, it will spread all over any country that has Islamic populations.”

h/t Doctor Bulldog